Nature as Chaotic Order

Nature as Chaotic Order

 

She said she was

attracted to him

not because of his own

desire for growth

but because he had a respect

for process,

and taught her

how to garden.

Through him,

with him,

she was attracted

not only to the petals

but to the very idea

of gardening:

things ordered in time.

Logically, that was attractive

to a mind flooded

with chaotic, brilliant ideas.

The plants all seem

to bide their time

and they also seem

to spring up and blossom

very suddenly when no one

is looking.

I also have a neighbor

who gardens:

this long-legged girl

who’s always on the balcony

across from my window,

always either smoking

or tending to her little plants,

shrinking her precious life down

to something manageable.

We all drink

our daily doses

of water and poison.

The mind tries,

through its thinking,

to be relieved of itself.

Think nothing, for the thinker.

Be present, for eternity.

Be present when you plant

the seeds. Be present

when they burst, grow, and reveal

their compacted extravagance.

Live out everything, within its place,

within time, for true liberty.

David Pring-Mill 

As a professional technology journalist and startup consultant, David Pring-Mill has been quoted in Forbes, CNBC, Business Insider, and USA Today. In his spare time, he writes poetry. His poems have appeared in Ariel Chart, Poetry Quarterly, Boston Literary Magazine, East Coast Literary Review, FIVE:2:ONE, and many other literary journals. You can visit his website at www.pring-mill.com and follow his handle @davesaidso on Twitter.